After 7 years of racing triathlon, this was my first reverse triathlon. And I had no idea what to do. Do I take my socks off for the bike? Do I wear my race belt the whole time? Do I bring a towel to the pool? My thinking was all mixed up.
I convinced my sister and a friend to do the race with me. Wendy is on a weight loss / lifestyle change journey. She is amazing and has inspired so many people, including me, with her story. I am so proud of how far she has come and hope she continues to love her new life.
Anyways, I hadn't been doing much speedwork, so this race was just going to be a training day for me. It consisted of 3.1 mile run, 13.7 mile bike, and 175 yard swim.
The run started with two laps around the high school track, then ventured into nearby neighborhoods. Holly and I ran together on the track. Holly is fast, so I tried to stay near her for as long as I could.
I quickly jumped on my bike and headed off for a ride. Before the race I was most concerned about getting lost on the bike. I knew I would be near the front of the race, so I couldn't just depend on following someone in front of me. I studied the map before the race, but found out at packet pick-up that the course had changed.
The bike course began on local streets with lots of stoplights. And I seemed to hit all of them. I was with a group of guys who kept hitting all the same lights as me. We finally made it to the river trail and we were flying. I knew I could give it my all on the bike since I didn't need to save my legs for a run.
After being on the trail for about a mile or so, this woman rudely tried to pass our group on the left. She was riding on the left side of the trail and other cyclists were getting mad at her. She didn't have any bike courtesy. She jumped ahead and my group grabbed onto her tail. This was a draft legal race so why not? Well, that's where the problem was. This dumb woman didn't know where she was going and missed a key turn. Since there were lots of us in a group, we couldn't see the marker on the ground since we were in the back. She led us a mile in the wrong direction!!!
I was furious! We hit a dead end and saw that we were supposed to be on the other side of the river trail. I turned around and headed back, but didn't know how far back we would have to go. I rode to the bridge and decided to go across it and get to PCH another way. I rode on the west side of trail until the next underpass and found the trail closed. ARGH! This was so frustrating! So I crossed over again and got on the right trail. I knew it was right way because I saw more racers (most of them slower ones).
I had about 6 miles left on the bike and I couldn't have biked faster. I was so mad because of how well I had been doing. I passed my sister on the bike because she had passed me while I was lost. I finally made it back to the school and saw that the woman who led me the wrong way was right in front of me. I had to beat her.
My T2 time must have been like 30 seconds. I sprinted over the pool and jumped in. It was only a 7 lap swim, but I had to get in front of that woman. I passed her quickly and feel vindicated. I got out of the pool and ran the finish line, not without looking over my shoulder to make sure she wasn't going to pass me.
I finished in 1:21:25 (no split times listed). Five women finished in front of me. If I subtracted about 6-7 minutes (the time to bike 2 miles) I would have finished 3rd woman overall. Well, that sucks. BUT if something is going to go wrong in a race, I would rather have it happen here than in an important race.
So there you have it, a great race turned wrong. At least I wasn't the only one that got lost. I got to lament with the group of guys I was riding with. They were bummed too. But no one talked to that woman. She wasn't friendly and was way too serious.
Would I do this race again? Probably not. But it's a great beginner's race and I would definitely recommend it as that.
No comments:
Post a Comment